It is Christmas morning. We repack our bags in the morning and are met by only the driver today. The drive to Izmir this morning, and the ensuing flight back to Istanbul are uneventful (thank goodness!) and we make it back to Istanbul and our guide, Latife before noon.
It is a gorgeous day; apparently it snowed in Istanbul the night before, too. We have the option of doing the whole tour that was scheduled for Day 6, or half on that day and half the following day, or the whole thing the next day. As the weather was so beautiful, and just about everything we had to do was outdoors anyway, we decided to do the scheduled tour for the second half of the day on Day 6, and visit the remainder of the scheduled tours the following morning. That would leave us just half a day to shop on the last day, but it couldn't really be helped.
So we headed back to the apartments, unloaded the luggage, freshened up and headed to Topkapi Sarayi (Palace) Museum. I'd realised by this stage that 'kapi' is the word for 'gate'. 'Top' means 'canon', and this was how locals refered to the palace because of the openings for canons in the wall surrounding the palace (the original name of the palace was the New Imperial Palace). This wall, by the way, totals 7.5 km in length, so this gives an indication of the size of the area of the palace grounds. More information and history on the palace can be found here and here.
Being winter and therefore off-peak tourist season, many of the exhibits and parts of the palace were under restoration works and closed to the public. But there was still plenty to see! From the porcelains brought by the Chinese in the 16th, 17th Century, to the larger-than-life kitchen utensils, the Imperial treasures (many of them gifts to the Sultans), the Sacred Relics, to the very well-preserved garments of the Sultans and heirs to the throne, there were many, many exhibits to satisfy the different interests of individual visitors to the palace. Of course, my interest was in the cooking implements and the kitchen, where about 800-1000 prepared daily meals and snacks for a household of about 5000 people!
There are original tiles dating back to the mid-15th Century when the castle was built (in 6 years!), grand aigrettes (headwear used to decorate the Sultans' turbans) studded with emerald and diamonds, two 48kg candleholders (also studded with thousands of diamonds) the world's fifth-largest diamond (supposedly) at 86 carat which is also known as the Spoonmaker's diamond, the arm and skull and St John the Baptist, locks of the Kaaba, the list is endless, and I have a feeling that my memory was rather selective in what it has managed to retain. It was a pity that we were not permitted to take photos of many of the exhibits; some of the exhibits really were quite mind-blowing.
A visit to Topkapi Palace also provides visitors with a splendid view of the Marmara Sea and the Bosphorus River. Again, I do not remember which we saw first, due to the information overload, but I think it was the Marmara! One could also view the room where the Sultans' young sons were prepared for circumcision, including places for them to relax prior to the ceremony.
As we had been to the Harem section in Beylerbeyi Palace, we were able to skip the Harem here (entry to the harem at Topkapi is at an additional charge). No doubt, this would have been much larger a harem than the one we saw, which was in a summer palace. The Harem at Topkapi Palace is said to have housed up to 400 women!
When we have visited all the exhibits in Topkapi that we are allowed to view (I have read somewhere that you should allow for at least half a day to visit Topkapi Palace), our guide and driver take us to the Grand Bazaar. We ask, because it is the 'touristy' thing to do. We are taken there, but cautioned that prices would be quite high compared to what we would pay at the Spice Market, which we were planning to explore the following day.
We explore a bit of the Grand Bazaar but really don't make it too far. I don't think we got up to 100 stalls (out of about 4000 stalls) before the bright lights and loud noises put us off and we head back to the apartments to get ready for our Christmas dinner.
On arrival back at the apartments, we are informed that there is no electricity, so we wait in the sitting area in candlelight while we deliberate our next course of action. It becomes apparent that we will not be able to shower and 'pretty ourselves' for dinner. Not having electricity is one thing, not having hot water is quite another! So we decide to head out - it is peak hour traffic, and Metin, the owner of the travel agency and apartments, offers to drive us. It will take us a while to get to the restaurant so those of us who were tired (ok, it was me!) could nap in the minvan. No objections there! I catch snippets of the conversation on the way to the restaurant, but for the most part, I am happy to have a snooze.
We arrive at the Ataköy branch of Gelik Meat Restaurant sometime later (me being blissfully unaware of how long we were stuck in the jam for, if at all) for Christmas dinner that we prebooked. There is no turkey for us this Christmas. Guess Turks aren't too excited by the idea of eating the bird. But no matter, there is plenty of terrific lamb, rice and desserts to fill us up. We had a late lunch (around 3pm, after Topkapi), so were not very hungry when we got to the restaurant at around 8pm, but were still able to appreciate the good food! Metin joined us for dinner, and we got to pick his brain a bit about Turkey in general, and his bike in particular. This is one of the things I like about going to a different country: sitting down and talking to a local. It's not easy to do this on a whirlwind family trip that only lasts a week. But it's the best way to learn about a country and its people, local sentiments, cutures, habits, when you get the opportunity.
When the electricity has been restored at the apartment (and the buildings surrrounding it), we head back and I am very soon warm and toasty and fast alseep.
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